Moscow contract for Edinburgh firm

Thursday 4 May 2006 07.21 EDT
First published on Thursday 4 May 2006 07.21 EDT

The architects who designed the expensive Scottish parliament building will build a lavish skyscraper in central Moscow, a city so awash with petrodollars that it should not balk at the cost.

A group of Edinburgh architects yesterday announced that the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, had approved their design, right, for the City Palace, a 46-storey tower shaped like a drill bit or, as the designer more flatteringly has it, "two ribbons wrapping around each other". Based in the capital's new financial district, it will stand metres away from another British-designed skyscraper, the Moscow City Tower, created by Lord Norman Foster and intended to be the tallest building in Europe.

Mr Luzhkov is encouraging extensive reconstruction across Moscow. Advocates say he is creating the richest looking city in Europe, while critics dismiss his projects as vulgar and ostentatious.

The architects, RMJM, have described the tower as "sexy" and "sensual". The firm's director and concept designer for the tower, Tony Kettle, said a register office in the base of the tower was inspiration for its design. "We wanted it to look like the marriage of two halves, with a feeling of celebration," he said. "It is a very rich and expressive building." A ballroom will rest on top of the £120m spiral, providing views of Moscow.

City Palace will be partly financed by Alexander Chigirinsky, a property tycoon, whose brother Shalva is backing the Moscow City Tower, a 118-storey building expected to cost £830m. "Ours is not going to be the tallest, but the most beautiful," Mr Kettle said.

Mr Kettle's firm designed the Scottish parliament building, which was completed in 2004 for £431m, 10 times its estimated cost. While the Chigirinsky brothers are known for their deep pockets, Mr Kettle said this project would provide value for its investors.